The Story of WinMUGEN


Elecbyte had been asking for donations from people who were willing to support them and then started to work on a Windows version of MUGEN. On the 14th of April 2002, Elecbyte released their latest version of Linux MUGEN, after they had abandoned the DOS version earlier.

Around the same time, Elecbyte also sent e-mails to people who had donated money to them. Probably not to everyone, but to people who donated more than just their lunch money. Via e-mail, a link was sent and it was supposedly different for each person. Each person also received a user name and password to access the page the link lead to. What the link lead to was exactly this: a private beta version of WinMUGEN.

This version was basically the exact equivalent to the Linux version released around the same time - but for Windows. The catch?

1. A transparent blue box that read:

"M.U.G.E.N 2002.04.14 PRIVATE MU TEST.
DISTRIBUTION STRICTLY PROHIBITED.
THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING IN THIS TEST."

This box would always be present, except when an actual fight was going on. It disappeared only when the roundstate trigger was 2, if you will.

2. This version was limited.
It accepted only 2 characters to be on the select screen at the same time. It also had limitations for the number of stages, and most play modes were disabled. No full motif support either.

The people who received this beta had to agree never to talk about it.

Nevertheless, as time passed an unknown number of people had been giving out their user names, passwords and links for WinMUGEN.

Elecbyte obviously noticed the increased number of logins or the increased bandwidth and eventually these links were changed. They were replaced - with a poem. This poem was about people doing something they should not be doing.

Some time later, what is believed to be the first public hack of the WinMUGEN version surfaced on the Internet.

http://www.geocities.com/elecbyte1 and http://www.geocities.com/elecbyte1/winmugen.html

This version was 2002.04.14 WinMUGEN, but modified and hacked. It had the blue box removed, and the version number changed to "M.U.G.E.N 2003 Beta V3.08.2 w2003.06.14b".
"Elecbyte" in the main menu had been changed to "Elecbyte1".

We cannot be sure about what really made Elecbyte close their page in November 2003 after they announced they had encountered a "snag" in development. We imagine it were leaks and the hack that did it, but this is speculation. Not to mention that out of the thousands of people in MUGEN, only a handful really showed enough support to donate.

Elecbyte can certainly not be blamed for "abandoning" the community. If anything, it was the other way round. Leaks and hacks disrespected and abandoned Elecbyte. More and more people were whining about how they "needed" WinMUGEN, and that WinMUGEN would never be done, when in fact WinMUGEN already existed. It existed at least since early 2002.

In those years since 2002, the circle of people who had the original, unaltered WinMUGEN kept silent, except for the individuals who leaked and hacked. When the hack was discovered early on, the common policy was to keep silent. Out of respect for Elecbyte's wishes, the hack was not promoted, and people doing so were "persecuted."

It has to be said that during all that time, where each of the people who actually had WinMUGEN and who could have stood up anytime and release WinMUGEN to the public (and be a "hero" that way) - none did, except the person(s) involved in the hack.

There will not be a great listing of names, but you should know that, for example, people who were accused of being overly elitist and worse things were in fact entrusted with WinMUGEN - and were effectively "protecting" it for a long, long time.

And remarkably, most kept the secret a secret. It has been only lately that more and more information on WinMUGEN has been brought up.

The reason why people are now talking openly about it is simple, and just one:

The only real reason not to talk about WinMUGEN was because Elecbyte prohibited it. Elecbyte would certainly NOT release WinMUGEN to the public if their beta-testers would betray them. So they kept quiet.

But now, Elecbyte has been gone for a long time. Should they ever choose to return, the community will gladly welcome them back. But for now, just about everyone is convinced that "the community" is on its own.

Less and less computers are supporting DOS. The cores of the MUGEN creators have become elitist circles who barely progress anymore and keep mostly to themselves.

A few days ago, the version of WinMUGEN was fixed. This time, the 2 character limit was removed and all game modes are unlocked.

Decisions were made.

The time has come to talk openly about WinMUGEN. Therefore this text. And the time has come to rely on "ourselves," if we want the MUGEN engine (and a community) to live on. Therefore, the no limit version of Rou Hei is now promoted:

http://www.attic7.com/unofficial/